TAMPA, Fla. — As concern builds over the COVID-19 outbreak, the Toronto Blue Jays implemented new policies Tuesday intended to keep players and staff safe. Some of these changes, such as closing the clubhouse to media on a temporary basis, were handed down from MLB. In other instances, the club is contemplating changes of its own.
“It’s obviously not a situation we want to be in,” GM Ross Atkins said at Steinbrenner Field before Tuesday’s exhibition game against the Yankees. “It’s become a baseball issue, but in our minds it’s much more of a public health issue. We’re following the lead of Major League Baseball, which has worked closely with public health officials to determine this is one measure that we can take and one that we certainly deem to be temporary. We’re following their lead.”
Working in conjunction with the NHL, NBA and MLS, baseball announced Monday that media access to clubhouses would stop “on a temporary basis.” Players and coaches will still be available to media, but those interactions will no longer take place in the same place.
Underneath the stadium, the Yankees set up a roped-off area from which their players will conduct interviews going forward. On the visiting side, Blue Jays players conducted one-on-one interviews in the visiting dugout Tuesday, while manager Charlie Montoyo held his daily pre-game scrum on the field.
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As for fans, Atkins said the Blue Jays have yet to impose restrictions on the interactions players have. In a team meeting Sunday, the players discussed the option of pre-signing some balls and baseball cards for fans. That possibility remains a consideration, and if nothing else the club will provide players with their own Sharpies for signing autographs.
One way or another, Atkins hopes Blue Jays fans don’t have to stop interacting with the team’s players.
“I certainly hope not,” he said. “We are talking about contingency plans for everything. If the situation worsens then we have to be prepared for that. As we get more information every day, we’re learning more and more. We do have contingency plans for the potential of those things happening.”
Since the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends limiting interactions, the Blue Jays are working behind the scenes to limit unnecessary contact with the dozens of team staff and service providers who pass through the clubhouse daily.
“There are vendors. Our own scouts that are coming and going. It’s not just media that’s being limited,” Atkins said. “We have made the decision for people that are coming and going from our environment, but for the people who are working here every day, we are still working through how we will limit that and limit our exposure.”
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Speaking to the media after Sunday’s team meeting, Blue Jays player representative Matt Shoemaker said he believed a common-sense approach to COVID-19 could be effective.
“It’s a terrible thing,” Shoemaker said. “Everybody: stay clean, wash your hands, (do) common sense stuff. I don’t want to speak too much on it since I’m not a doctor, but I’ve done some research on it because there’s a lot of fear out there. My personal opinion is that there doesn’t need to be that much fear.”
Since then, the pro sports landscape has changed rapidly with limited access in some cases and games played in empty stadiums across Europe. At this point, MLB games are progressing as usual and the Blue Jays aren’t expecting to have to play in an empty ballpark when their season begins at Rogers Centre on March 26.
“I certainly hope not,” Atkins said. “I don’t envision that.”
